When It's No Longer A Game
by DraconicTraits
Summary: Padfoot,Prongs, Moony and Wormtail experience days of adventure and pranking during their sixth year at Hogwarts. Sneaking around right under McGongalls nose, detentions and NEWTs keep these four particular students busy!
1. Chapter 1 Detention

Authors Note: Hello to all you readers, I am going to try my darndest to make this story as accurate to the books as possible so if you notice any little glitches then point them out to me and I'll do my best to change it. If you are like me then you'll hate it when things are different from the books. Hope you enjoy!

**When It's No Longer A Game**

**_Chapter 1_**  
**Detention**

It was particularly stubborn piece of Blobas Everlasting Bubble Gum. James Potter chipped away ceaselessly at the bright pink gum stuck tenaciously to the underside of a table in Professor McGonagall's Transfiguration classroom. He lay in quite an undignified position on his back, half underneath the table with a hammer and chisel in each hand. The gum he was forced to remove from underneath the tables at his detention with Professor McGonagall had evidently been stuck there for a very long time and unfortunately managed to get and unyielding hold on the table over the years. He sat up rubbing his arms; after two hours of chiseling away at bubblegum his arms were quite sore. Flicking his head to both sides, he confirmed that McGonagall was still in her office. James set his tools aside and crawled away from the desk to where his backpack sagged against the wall. He pulled out a small, square mirror in a tarnished silver frame. A shock of untidy black hair and hazel eyes reflected back at him.

"Sirius." James spoke into the mirror, careful not too alert McGonagall by speaking too loudly. James's thin face vanished, to be replaced by a very handsome face with dark hair that fell into his eyes

"You called, Prongs?" Sirius asked in a mock french accent.

James smiled. "How's detention with Professor Slughorn?"

Sirius's expression darkened. "I swear, if I have to measure powdered FelisStone into one more bottle..."

James grunted knowingly. "Well I've been spending my detention scraping gum off the underside of desks for two hours!"

Sirius let out a bark-like laughter. "I'm sure you're having just as much fun as me."

"You know, I've been working on the same bit of gum for twenty-five minutes now! McGonagall probably put a Permanent Sticking Charm on it just to piss me off."

Sirius was cut off from his response as James shoved the mirror back into his bag and dove for the table. Professor McGonagall had just emerged from her office. She raised an eyebrow at James sprawled near the desk clutching his knee tightly having just landed on the chisel in his attempt to get back to the desk.

"I'm sure you've learned your lesson. I will not tolerate my students' noses being enlarged to the size of a grapefruit," she said crisply.

"Awww but that was pretty well the size of his nose before and besides Snape deserved-"

"I'll not hear it! You may leave before I change my mind and decide that you truly have not learned your lesson."

James rose to his feet, favouring the leg that was not injured in his sporadic dive.

"Oh and Potter, if you continue to converse with Black during detentions with me, I will have to confiscate your...item," and with that she turned around and strode briskly to her office.

James snatched his bag and left the Transfiguration classroom as fast as he could manage. Once out he pulled the small mirror from his bag once more.

"Sirius," he said again, this time in his regular speaking voice rather than a whisper.

Sirius's haughty face appeared in the galss.

"Did ya get caught?" were the frist words out of his mouth.

"Nah, actually I'm out, you?"

"I'm done bottling the FelisStone but I still have to clean out the original can it was in and the mess I made while doing it."

"Ha! Guess you're stuck-"

"Maybe not, watch the pro." Sirius's voice could be heard saying "Scourgify!" then,"See ya in a minute, Prongs"

And he vanished from the mirror's smooth surface.

Giggling could be heard from down the corridor and James's hand automatically shot to his hair, rumpling it. Moments later a group of girls emerged from around the corner. As soon as they caught sight of him the giggling increased, if that was possible. James's attention was focused on a particular redhead near the centre of the group.

"Hey Evans!" he called to her.

A tall girl with shoulder length red hair and striking green eyes, extricated herself from the other girls.

"Thoughtful of you to arrange a welcome-back party for me," he said. "But it was only detention."

The redhead snorted."You know, you're so pathetic, you really are. Wait is that a mirror? She asked, pointing to the square silver mirror in James's hand.

"What? What-no!" he said shoving it roughly into his bag.

"I know you delight in your reflection but to carry around a mirror?"

"That's not-I mean...naturally," he said changing his tactic."Besides I know you delight in my reflection too." he said winking.

"You make me sick! Ugh," and she turned on her heel and stormed down the corridor in the opposite direction.

"Lily wait!" squealed one of her friends, a rather chunky girl with an upturned nose and tight blonde curls. She waddled after her friend along with the rest of the still giggling girls.

James jumped down the steps two at a time. When he neared the bottom of the marble staircase he spotted Sirius lounging on the second to last step with his usual arrogant but bored expression on his face. Sirius looked up when he heard James leaping down the stairs.

"About time! What took you?"

"Well not only are the dungeons closer but I encountered Evans on the way."

Sirius gave James a look that said I-can-only-imagine-how-that-went, then broke out in laughter.

"Did she call you a conceited pig then stomp off?" Sirius asked, still smirking.

"Now when, Padfoot, has Lily Evans ever called me a conceited pig?"

"It's more or less what she says, mate. You don't even have to read between the lines on this one."

James shook his head then said," That reminds me, we have to do lines in detention with Professor Flitwick on Monday."

They both shared a look then burst out laughing. Once again Snape had found himself a victim of Sirius and James's amusement...

_Charms class was just as noisy and chaotic as any other day. With little Professor Flitwick perched on his stack of books, he overlooked them all attempting to produce the Water Spout Charm. James had already mastered this charm for he occasionally used it to douse unsuspecting students in the hallways._

_ Sirius could be seen walking casually to the other side of the classroom where, suspiciosly, Snape sat. They approached Snape from behind and once they were a metre from his greasy black head, Sirius yelled,"Scourgify!"_

_Frothy pink soap bubbled forth from the tip of his wand and engulfed Snape's long, lank hair. Snape spun around in his chair reaching for his wand just as James yelled, "Auguamenti!"_

_ Water spurted from the tip of James's wand like a shower head and rinsed the bubbles from Snape's hair, soaking Snape's robes at the same time. Professor Flitwick looked up just in time to see this happen and screamed,"Potter! Black! What do you think you are doing?"_

_"Well, sir," James said grinning hugely."We were doing Snape a favour. Merlin knows he needs a bath."_

_"That is unacceptable, Potter! Detention for both of you, Monday at seven o'clock." Flitwick squeaked angrily..._

Siruis's barking laughter and James's chuckle rang through the Entrance Hall as they recalled their Charms class earlier that day.

"It was kinda obvious we were gonna get caught though," said Sirius.

"Caught doing what?" said a scratchy and slightly hysterical voice from behind them.

Turning around, they discovered and eager Filch standing on his tiptoes directly behind them. How they didn't hear the ginger-haired and balding man approach them, they didn't know.

"Well spit it out you filthy hooligans! What were you up to?"

"Up to?" asked Sirius looking quite bewildered. "Why, we weren't up to anything. Is it that hard to believe that two hard-working boys such as ourselves would be causing trouble?"

Apparently it was that hard to believe, Filch narrowed his eyes threateningly then hissed,"If I had it my way you two ungrateful brats would be hanging from your toes in the dungeons for just thinking of doing nasty deeds."

"Well we're sincerely sorry that you don't have it your way," said James, positively dripping with sarcasm."But we regretfully can't continue this delightful little chat any longer. Gotta run."

James turned his back on Filch and started up the stairs. Sirius flashed Filch a wolfish grin and tipped an imaginary hat towards him before following James.

Before they could get too far they stopped at the sound of a loud yelp. They turned around to see Filch hanging upside-down from his ankles by invisible rope. He was dangling precariously from the ceiling while screaming accusations towards Sirius and James. They both looked at eachother then turned tail and ran, not bothering to stifle their laughter.

As soon as they were out of ear shot James asked,"Did you do that while you were waiting for me, Padfoot?"

"Nope but I wish I could take the credit for that one."

"Well Filch thinks its us so now we're really gonna be in trouble."

Sirius shrugged before breaking out in laughter again just at the thought of Filch hanging from his ankles from the ceiling of the Entrance Hall.

Back in the Gryffindor Common Room Remus Lupin was sitting in a cushy armchair before the fire with his nose in a book. Peter Pettigrew was laying across a threadbare rug near the fire, working on a Potions essay that was due last week.

James and Sirius greeted Wormtail and Moony as they stepped through the portrait hole. Remus looked up from his book and asked,"How was detention?"

James shrugged."Detention is detention."

"It was what happened after detention that is worth talking about," Sirius said.

"What did you guys do this time?" Remus asked wearily but his smile revealed that he was actually eager to hear what their most recent practical joke was.

"Well that's the thing we didn't do _anything._" and James proceeded in telling Remus and an eager Peter what happened to Filch in the Entrance Hall.

Remus was laughing outright at the mental image of Filch dangling upside-down way above the floor. Peter was clapping his hands and congratulating them on their ingenious prank. Neither James nor Sirius bothered to correct Peter that _they_ were not the ones that pulled the prank.

"You do realize how much trouble you're going to be in, right?" asked Remus.

"Not if we just told McGonagall that it wasn't us," reasoned James.

"How thick are you, Prongs? McGonagall's not going to believe _us_,"Sirius responded truthfully.

James plopped himself down on the couch along with Sirius. There was a few girls at a table to their right; one of them, a girl with curly brown hair, was writing and essay. James turned his wand towards the girl and flicked it. The last sentence she had just written vanished. She stopped writing and stared at her parchment in confusion. As she wrote the sentence all over again, James gave another tiny flick of his wand and it vanished once more. Sirius caught in to what he was doing and sniggered. Lupin, however, seemed oblivious to the goings on. After about five minutes of this, by which time James and Sirius were roaring with laughter, the girl finally realized what was happening. Instead of being angry with them, she seemed quite overjoyed that they had chosen _her_ to harass.

"Well," said Lupin, yawning hugely."I'm off to bed."

"Yeah me too," said James. "Night Padfoot and Wormtail."

Sirius looked up."Yeah g'night."

Peter had jumped to his feet, inadvertently kicking his overdue Potions essay into the fire.

"Have a good sleep!" he called to their backs as they reached the stairwell to the boys dormitories.

"Wormtail, you just kicked you essay into the fire," Sirius informed him with an amused expression on his face.

Wormtail looked down and squealed when he saw half of his essay burnt and balckened. Dropping to his knees, he attempted to pull the parchment out with his hands. He squealed again, this time in physical pain and yanked his chubby little hands out of the fire.

"If you keep that up your essay's not going to be the only thing burnt," warned Sirius.

Pulling out his wand , Sirius said, "Accio essay."

Peter's essay flew out of the fire and hovered in mid-air before Sirius's wand. Sirius grabbed the end of the parchment that wasn't burnt and held his wand tip to the ruined bit.

"Reparo," he said and the parchment mended itself so that it was as good as new. Handing the essay back to Peter he said,"Unfortunately the parchment is fixed but you'll have to rewrite the part that was burned because it didn't repair that," Sirius said sadly, although he look as though he enjoying himself.

Peter thanked Sirius but as he began to rewrite the first half of his essay he looked to be in a very foul mood.

"Oh don't' go and get gray hairs over it, Wormtail. It's only an essay," Sirius said as he got up and made his way casually over to a group of girls sitting in armchairs in the far corner. He sat down on the arm of one of the girls chairs and began talking confidently to them. They all looked like they were about to swoon, particularly the one sharing the armchair with Sirius. Peter glanced enviously at Sirius before shoving his unfinished homework into his bag. He sat on the rug, listening to the giggling and low talking voices coming from the corner. Realizing that their were no longer any sounds Peter heaved himself to his feet but when he started to make his way across the Common Room, he discovered the reason why their was no longer any giggling . Sirius had coaxed the girl that he was sharing an armchair with into the corner(although it was doubtful that it took much coaxing) where they now seemed to be attached at the mouth. All her friends were glaring jealously at her from their seats. Trying to ignore the wet smacking sounds coming from the corner, Peter slunk miserably off to the boys dormitories.


	2. Chapter 2 Escape

Chapter 2

A sharp jab in the shoulder blades woke Sirius up abruptly. He snapped his head up and for a moment forgot where he was. Then the transparent image of Professor Binns reminded him all too clearly of his whereabouts. The History of Magic Professor had once again managed to put Sirius to sleep with his monotonous, droning voice. James was sitting on the edge of his seat, and was repeatedly stabbing Sirius with the tip of his wand.

Sirius turned to James sharply and told his best mate to stop it.

"Well it took quite a few pokes to wake you up," said James grinning and giving Sirius another hard prod in the back.

"I'm clearly awake now so stop it!" growled Sirius.

James's grin only widened and he gave Sirius another particularly brutal jab in the ribs.

"Ouch!" Sirius exclaimed as he reached over and pushed roughly on James's shoulder, knocking him off balance. James toppled sideways and landed on the floor with a loud thud.

Professor Binns looked up in shock at the unexpected noise and he even looked surprised to see a classroom of sixth years sitting before him. Spotting James on the floor with the chair on its side, Professor Binns said, "Potter, please take your seat and we will resume the lesson."

With that the ghost went back to his dull speech on the goblin rebellion.

Before getting up James rumpled his hair then plucked his chair off the floor and took his seat

"Bit unnecessary don't you think?" asked James, rubbing the back of his head.

"Poking me after I was awake was a bit unnecessary, don't you think?"

James shrugged and said with a smile,"I didn't want you to miss this important lesson."

"I already know this stuff," Sirius responded arrogantly.

"Well, now that you are awake-"

"Thanks to you."

"-What do you say we sneak down to Hogsmeade?"

Sirius pretended to ponder this for a moment before smiling mischievously and answering, "Why, I think that's a grand idea, Prongs."

James turned to Remus, who was sitting beside him trying to take in what Binns was saying but to no avail.

"Hey Moony, what do you say we ditch this class and head on down to Hogsmeade?"

Remus looked up at James's grinning face and considered this much more appealing idea. He glanced up at Professor Binns then back at James.

"Fine, but if we get caught..." Remus let his sentence trail off suggesting that there would be consequences if he as a prefect was caught skipping.

"And when have _we_ ever got caught?" asked Sirius.

They didn't bother asking Peter if he wanted to come along because they knew when they all stealthily slid of their chairs and slipped out of the classroom that he would be right behind.

"What are we doing guys?" Peter asked eagerly once they were out in the corridor.

"We're going to Hogsmeade, what does it look like?"Sirius responded.

Peter clapped his hands enthusiastically and followed the Marauders up a flight of stairs, around a corner and they found themselves in a long, dimly lit corridor. Their footsteps echoed in the deserted hallway as they made their way to the hidden entrance of their chosen escape route. An old rusted suit of armor stood to the left with the butt of its spear planted firmly on the tiles. James stepped up to the hollow metal guard and spoke the words,"I request entry to the Blind Boggart Passage."

The suit of armor nodded its head slightly and slid the spear off the tile it was resting on. Sirius stepped forward and helped James pull the loose tile up and push it aside to reveal a dark hole just deep enough for them to stand without crouching. Sirius jumped down into the darkness without hesitating, followed by James and Remus. Peter, however, paused on the edge of the dark pit.

"Do-do you think there will be any spiders down there?" asked Peter shakily.

"'Course there will be spiders, Wormtail! This is a perfect home for those big, hairy creepy crawlers." James replied from within the pit.

Peter squeaked fearfully."I-I ca-can't go down there."

"Oh well, we'll bring you back some cheese from Hogsmeade."

"But I-can't I meet you at the Whomping Willow?"Peter asked hopefully.

Sirius responded,"Nope. Too risky, you'll have to come this way." Sirius's toothy grin could not be seen in the dark but the humour in his voice was all too evident.

"But I-oh alright," Peter complied.

Sitting his round bottom on the edge of the tiles with his feet dangling below, Peter slid off the edge and fell to the bottom with a heavy thud. Peter stood up quickly and dusted himself off. James and Remus's wands lit up a long, dank passageway that sloped slightly downwards. Cobwebs and mildew covered the ceiling and walls. The soft _drip drip_ of water could be heard from somewhere down the dark hall.

Sirius muttered a spell and the tile fell back in to place. Peter whimpered pathetically in the darkness.

"Would you shut up, Wormtail?" Sirius barked at the trembling boy.

"Easy Sirius. You made him come down here. You know he hates spiders," Remus said.

"I almost wish I had let you just meet us at the Whomping Willow," Sirius grumbled.

"Does that mean you'll let me back out?"Peter begged.

"No, you are down here now, lets just get going before those big spiders find us," James said.

Peter let out another squeal of terror before hurrying after the others. They trudged on down the gloomy hall in silence. Their footfalls echoing hollowly around them. Every once in a while an unidentified creature would scitter past them, making Peter jump. Finally they saw a spot of light emerge before them. The passage led directly outside. James stopped once he met the end, standing on the edge of a forty foot drop. Laid out below him was the green grounds of Hogwarts and the Whomping Willow some thirty feet away. James reached into a small nook hidden in the wall of the passage and pulled out a long, thick rope covered in green mold and cobwebs. Lying down on his stomach he stretched over the edge of the drop and tied the rope to a rusty steel peg driven into the stone wall. James lifted himself off the filthy floor and turned a toothy grin on Peter.

"You first, Wormtail. If you get to the bottom all right, we know its safe!" James said in an encouraging tone.

"But, what do you mean _if_ I get to the bottom? Haven't you tested this passage out before?" Peter asked worriedly.

"Well no not exactly. Sirius and I found this passage only last week since he destroyed our usual one."

Sirius responded to the jibe in his own defense,"How was I to know she was claustrophobic?"

"You shouldn't have been taking a stupid girl down that secret passage just to snog, in the first place!" James replied.

"It doesn't matter," Remus interjected. "What's done is done. No one expected her to get claustrophobic and start shooting Reducto spells everywhere. And James just be glad Sirius got out of that passageway alive without being crushed by all the falling rock."

Sirius smirked in a self-satisfied way, evidently pleased with Remus's logical reasoning. Peter let out a terrified squeak that captured the attention of the other three. They all looked to him as he stood on the edge of the drop looking straight down. Peter's legs were trembling and his face was covered in a sheen of sweat. James stepped forward and shoved Peter out of the way.

"Man up, Wormtail. I was only kidding, Sirius and I made sure the rope is sturdy and we have already tested it out." James scolded.

Sirius flicked a lock of hair from his eyes and glanced down the drop. "I'll go first so Wormy here doesn't piss himself in fear."

Four figures slipped down the coarse rope and disappeared into the now still Whomping Willow. They fled through an underground passage and emerged into a rickety shack that the locals of Hogsmeade sincerely believed to be haunted. In a small room within the Shrieking Shack, Sirius lounged on a dusty, floral patterned couch that was so old the springs could be seen poking through the fabric in some areas. Peter and Remus stretched out on the creaking wooden floor(Remus with a book in his hands) and James stood at the window gazing down at Hogsmeade. James's thoughts turned to Lily Evans and the corner of his mouth turned up in a half-smile. Her thick red hair and stunning green eyes...

"And her sharp tongue and hateful words towards you," Sirius threw in, interrupting James's thoughts.

James spun around and gave Sirius a confused look. "How did you...?"

"You were speaking your thoughts aloud, mate," Sirius answered James's question.

Rather than blush, James drew his eyebrows together in a frown and grumbled,"Why doesn't she like me?"

Remus looked up from his book saying, "You're a strapping young lad, James but I think she finds your arrogance rather immature. Try being a little less–"

Sirius cut in roughly,"James is who he is, if Evans can't appreciate that then she's no good for him anyway."

"Ya!" Peter piped up. "I'll jinx her for ya, Prongs!"

James turned on Peter, an angry scowl marring his features. "You don't go near her, Wormtail! If you harm Lily Evans I'll–"

"Easy James," Sirius interrupted. "He didn't mean anything by it."

James directed a quick glare at Peter before suggesting that they go down to the Three Broomsticks for butterbeers.

The four best friends followed a worn path from the Shrieking Shack. The ground was littered in vibrant orange, red and yellow leaves of the autumn season and the ancient trees creaked their song in the chill breeze. The bare branches reaching across the trail like gnarled claws. A tabby cat streaked across the trail in front of them, vanishing back into the forest. Sirius had taken an aggressive step forward at the sight of the cat with a menacing look in his gray eyes.

James flashed a playful grin. "My Padfoot, what animalistic behavior. Almost dog-like," he teased.

Sirius just shrugged nonchalantly and continued down the path.

Once inside the Three Broomsticks the four sat around a table and turned their attention to the man standing before them expectantly. His graying hair and shabby, patched up jacket gave him an overall unremarkable appearance.

"Butterbeers for you boys?" he asked in a raspy voice.

"That would be great, thanks," responded Lupin to the proprietor.

"Oh no, I'll have a firewhiskey, "James requested.

The proprietor simply chuckled and replied "Butterbeers it is, boys."

James shrugged and said,"worth a try, right."

The three of them laughed outright at this display from James and Sirius's barking laughter rang above them all. A young girl of about ten years with long golden hair cowered behind the bar counter. Her pretty face screwed up in alarm at the sudden outburst from the boys' table. Her head suddenly spun to look behind her at the sound of her father's voice.

"Rose! Would ya bring these butterbeers to the young lads in the corner over there." The proprietor shoved his daughter in their direction with a tray holding four butterbeers.

Little Rosmerta timidly crept over to the table that the four boys occupied. She carefully placed the four butterbeers onto their table and stood gazing up at them with wide eyes. Her father's commanding voice broke through her awe-inspired stare and she took off back to the bar counter before any of the boys could greet her.

"Odd little thing isn't she," Remus murmured.

"She certainly stares a lot," James stated.

"Who wouldn't stare at us, we're the envy of every witch and wizard at Hogwarts."Sirius's gloating expression beheld that he was completely serious in saying this.

"Oh yes Sirius I envy you oh so much. You and your little mischevious gang."

The four boys turned to see who belonged to the mocking sarcastic voice. A penetrating, heavy-lidded gaze stared directly at Sirius. Thick, raven tresses surrounded a darkly beautiful face.

"Well hello cuz. So nice to see you. Aren't you supposed to be in class right now, or are you out for a leisurely routine of muggle-born hunting?" Sirius replied with a falsely sweet smile on his face.

"Aren't _you_ supposed to be in class or have you come to save some filthy mud-bloods from my considerable talents?"

"I don't consider the dark arts _talent_!" retorted Sirius.

Bellatrix's voice turned cold and hard. "That is a dangerous accusation to make, cousin" Turning on her heel she strode out of the Three Broomsticks.

"We should get back to school before someone notices that we are missing," suggested Remus.

"Yeah or before Sirius's dear cousin rats us out." said James

"Bellatrix maybe a lot of things but she's not a snitch." grumbled Sirius.


End file.
